Help T-Mobile G4 bricked

[Adara]

Short form: I think it's dead, Jim.

Long form: I updated a few apps last night -- big mass-market apps (Twitter, FB, a bunch of stuff from Google -- nothing small or suspicious.) Phone ran fine. Left on charger overnight.

Woke up this morning, a minute or so into checking FB, I clicked on a link to an article, and it froze. Pushed power long enough for the phone to reboot.

It rebooted. I closed everything that it reopened. Then reopened FB (without clicking that link). FB froze. Phone froze again. Pushed power again (not that long) and it started to reboot. Walked away for a moment.

It did not finish rebooting. It appeared (mostly) dead.

I say "mostly" because when pressing power (for any length of time) failed, I did a battery pull. Put the battery back, hit power, and felt the phone vibrate. The T-Mobile/Android screen came up. (Momentarily proud of myself for sticking to my guns and not getting a phone without a removable battery.)

T-Mobile/Android screen stayed there. And stayed there. And stayed there. (Is it stuck trying to boot, now?)

Hitting power did nothing. Pulled battery again. This (obviously) made the screen go dark, but putting it back in and hitting power again gets me nowhere.

Do I have any options other than taking it to a T-Mobile store (and/or throwing it through a window, which may be the only thing it is good for now?)

 

[El Presidente]

Sounds like the G4 Bootloop issue which LG have acknowledged as a known flaw and will fix on warranty without question.

If you need your data back, apparently the phone will boot long enough if you put it in the fridge for a bit before attempting to start it again. It's not something I'd normally recommend, but your phone is probably beyond hope at this point.

I can dig you out some links which give examples etc once I get to my PC if you want?

 

[Adara]

Thanks. I've googled a bit in the interim and it doesn't actually look like the bootloop issue (as it doesn't LOOP -- it just starts trying and dies, until a battery pull), but it may be similar enough for LG/T-Mobile to replace it.

I'll miss my data. But at least most of it is on the SD card, and the photos are backed up in the cloud.

 

[Adara]

Yeah. Resolved. Warranty replacement on the way.

Guy in T-Mobile initially asked if he could plug it in to verify the problem. Like people generally let their battery run down to zero and say, "ZOMG! My phone won't turn on."

 

[El Presidente]

Excellenté!

They had no qualms about taking it back at all?

 

[Adara]

Nada. It's still under warranty, and after about five minutes of the T-Mobile guy being unable to get past the initial Android boot screen, he filled out a claim. I gotta pay a $5 processing fee, but am otherwise good.

 

[DILands]

Crap - another "victim" Mine crapped on on Sunday. Went to T-mobile Sunday after work - no problem, I have "JUMP", it was going to be $5 - been there, done that. I asked about a loaner because I had a phone job interview yesterday morning. Don't have any loaners, we can upgrade you. I told because they didn't have a loaner, I would just use a Samsung S7 as a loaner. Manager comes up and says "I'm not waiving the $50 restocking fee". Which, I took as an f-you. I told her I would call in to customer service and get it taken care of.

I called in, they said that I would have to pay the $50, but they would issue a $50 credit on my account. They also said that I wouldn't have to pay "shipping" on the replacement. Not sure if that was the $5 (hopefully) or what.

Stupid question - I can't figure out how to turn off the "click" on "touch". Went through the settings, I'm baffled, getting old. ..

 

[El Presidente]

In general, it sounds as if networks over the pond do all they can to make warranty returns a pain. My network, EE (which was formed when T mobile and Orange merged) are great. Any handset I've had an issue with they will send a courier round to my house with a replacement phone and take the old one away with the courier.

Stupid question - I can't figure out how to turn off the "click" on "touch". Went through the settings, I'm baffled, getting old. ..

Settings, Sound & Notifications, Sound Effects (it's right at the bottom of the page).

 

[DILands]

Thanks - I would have never found it.

Hey - a) the $50 restocking fee will be refunded
(effectively), and I learned that I don't want the S7.

 

[meyer_girl]

I didn't even bother with Tmobile. Filled out the info on LG's site and paid no shipping either way. They fixed it the day they received it (new board) and mailed it back within 36 hours. I was so happy to have it back after using my old Nexus as a loaner.

 

[tecnologia 2016]

can some body help me??? i flash my lg g4 h811 t mobile and now its in black screen and mi pc dont recognize mi lg.
what can i do for fix it????????????????????

 

[El Presidente]

What did you flash, how did you flash it?

Did you use a kdz file?

Did you use LGup or Flash tool?

 

[tecnologia 2016]

i use flash tool 2014 but i tried to do a downgrade and then the black screen apears

 

[El Presidente]

i use flash tool 2014 but i tried to do a downgrade and then the black screen apears

You can't downgrade US G4's, they have something called Anti-rollback meaning once you've upgraded to a certain version, that's the version you're stuck with (unless it's upgraded).

My knowledge of US versions of the handset is limited but I'm pretty certain your device is bricked and you're going to need to give T-Mobile a call, sorry.

 

[shadavis08]

You can roll back the US lg g4 but not back to far. And its much safer to use the LG UP tool than to use the flash tool. It took me literally less than 15 min. To downgrade back to lollipop on my Verizon G4 Im now using my T-Mobile G4 on MM and its not to bad. On the other phone it was wonky

 

[sir_nicca]

Is it possible that LG will fix the boot issue if the phone was previously rooted?

 

[shadavis08]

Is it possible that LG will fix the boot issue if the phone was previously rooted?

Yes just don't offer up the info that it was rooted and provide a proof of purchase from a reputable company

 

[FijiSun]

I was not so lucky. My device was the H815 international model. LG won't warranty it. And some say they tell you to use support from Korea which does not exist. But I have no choice being I need the H815 for all the added radios. It works perfect in Fiji Islands. I just bought another G4 for 284 dollars on Amazon (another H815 love living on the edge lol). My build date better be sometime in 2016 or I will send it back. People should post their build dates or serial numbers. As far as I know the affected models are launch to 9-2015 last year. I am interested to know if any body has seen this failure on serials 510 or 511. My other device was built 11-2015 or serial 511. I'm still a bit worried on that one.